In writing 'A Portrait of Athens' I have attempted - rather impressionistically - to give a panorama of its present. But I have also brought in its past because I sincerely think that there is a continuity. Louis MacNeice More Quotes by Louis MacNeice More Quotes From Louis MacNeice Time was away and somewhere else, Louis MacNeice glassessomewhere-elselove Better authentic mammon than a bogus god. Louis MacNeice It's no go my honey love, it's no go my poppet;Work your hands from day to day, the winds will blow the profit.The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever,But if you break the bloody glass you won't hold up the weather. Louis MacNeice glassesblowfall None of our hearts are pure, we always have mixed motives. Are self deceivers, but the worst of all Deceits is to murmur 'Lord, I am not worthy' And, lying easy, turn your face to the wall. Louis MacNeice wallheartlying A pharaoh's profile, a Krishna's grace, tail like a question mark. Louis MacNeice catgracetails World is suddener than we fancy it. Louis MacNeice irelandfancyworld I am not yet born; Forgive me For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words When they speak me, my thoughts when they think me, My treason engendered by traitors beyound me, My life when they murder by means of my hands, my death when they live me. Louis MacNeice meanhandsthinking I am not yet born; O fill me with strength against those who would freeze my humanity. Louis MacNeice freezebornhumanity Politics: distrust all parties but consider capitalism must go. Louis MacNeice distrustcapitalismparty World is crazier and more of it than we think, Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion A tangerine and spit the pips and feel The drunkenness of things being various. Louis MacNeice spitworldthinking The sunlight on the garden Louis MacNeice gardengoldtime September has come, it is hers Whose vitality leaps in the autumn, Whose nature prefers Trees without leaves and a fire in the fireplace. So I give her this month and the next Though the whole of my year should be hers who has rendered already So many of its days intolerable or perplexed But so many more so happy. Who has left a scent on my life, and left my walls Dancing over and over with her shadow Whose hair is twined in all my waterfalls And all of London littered with remembered kisses. Louis MacNeice autumnwallkissing a fortress against ideas and against the Louis MacNeice crumblingmenideas There seeps from heavily jowled or hawk-like foreign faces Louis MacNeice hawkssorrowfaces You know the worst: your wills are fickle, Louis MacNeice suicideheartpast It's no go the merry-go-round, it's no go the rickshaw Louis MacNeice ticketsgreedwant blind wantons like the gulls who scream Louis MacNeice gullsripdream It's no go the picture palace, it's no go the stadium, Louis MacNeice governmentcountryyears Why do we like being Irish? Partly because Louis MacNeice givingwaterworld World is crazier and more of it than we think, Louis MacNeice worldthinking
